OBS, Streaming, Twitch (Pimp Your AOC Stream Version 2)

[Stifflersmumx]

The Full Twitch and Stream Guide​

Hello everyone, i made a little guide as you see. Its written for Open Broadcaster Software, since its free, has a low CPU Usage and works just smooth. I hope its helping you a bit if you Stream and improve your and your Viewers Experience there. Im not a pro in this, if you find anything not working as it should, send me a PM so i can fix it. Or if you have a Problem trying these things you can ask me and we can see if we get it working. Im around here or usually in Voobly MS Lobby or the Official Voobly Channels in Twitch. Missing something ? Got more Ideas ? Message me!

Cheers

Overview​

1.)The Basics in OBS and what is needed to Stream
2.)Stream Key and Oauth Key
3.)Scenes and Sources
4.)Stream Appearance
5.)Tools Part I (Better Twitch TV, APM Counter, Twitch Tools, Chattools & Channel Bots)
6.)Tools Part II (Scene Switcher,Virtual Keyboards,Autohotkey, AOC Hotkeys Link)
7.) Some Alternative Guides in AOC Zone (FFSplit, XSplit,Twitch Chat Ingame [For urself & Viewers])

Spoiler: 1. Stream Setup and Basics for OBS

A Streaming Setup Guide can be found in Voobly made by Genette
http://www.voobly.com/pages/view/590/Live-Streaming-Guide

I would like to add some more things after the basic Setup. From my own Experience I highly suggest to have 2 Mbits or better upload speed to stream;
Wireless Connections can be painful when you’re struggling with upload speed already.


The Difference between a Megabyte (MB) and a Megabit (Mb)
One thing that often gives people confusion is the difference between a Megabyte (used for file size) and a Megabit (used for download speeds). People often assume that a download speed of 1 Megabit per second (1 Mbps) will allow them to download a 1 Megabyte file in one second. This is not the case, a Megabit is 1/8 as big as a Megabyte, meaning that to download a 1MB file in 1 second you would need a connection of 8Mbps. The difference between a Gigabyte (GB) and a Gigabit (Gb) is the same, with a Gigabyte being 8 times larger than a Gigabit.

So a 2Mbit Upload means your Uploading 0,25MB/s = ~250kb/s.

The most Important Value will be your Upload Speed Test with http://www.speedtest.net
The Bitrates Examples below are just suggestions for some settings. I would recommend that you start lower and slightly turn up the Quality (OBS > Settings > Video > Resolution Downscale start with 2.25) and see what your stream is doing and if u have any dropped frames in OBS. Dropped Frames will be lagging in the stream and thats what you never want to have. If you get a few % dropped frames, try to go 1 Setting backwards and see if its ok there.

CPU / PC Performance is the other required thing to run a better quality.

https://www.cpubenchmark.net/common_cpus.html#

If your CPU will be on the lowest Section of this Chart, you cant stream at all. I´m not able to pick this CPU works or this wont. A decent Quadcore one is good to have, doesnt need to be the newest one with the highest mHz. If you get lags when you are streaming and playing, you can try to Downscale more and see if it gets better that way.

The worst CPU and the best Internet wont help to get a good stream and also the best CPU and a crap Upload wont help to get a decent stream Quality. Play a bit around and see what suits for your Combination.

LAPTOP Prozessors are a bit weaker compared to normal Desktop PC (its meant for less Battery Usage) if you have an older one you might not be able to stream with that.


Bitrate Example

1:1 (1920*1080 Full HD / 30 fps)

1:1.5 ( 720p / 30 fps)

1:1.75 (576p / 30fps)

1:1.75 (576p / 20 FPS)

As you can see, to reduce your traffic you can lower the quality/resolution by downscaling, the effect is pretty big. Lowering the fps could also help in that case but you might get some blurring in it when you move pretty fast. You might want to stream other Games too which arent limited to 20 FPS so if you get a Setup in OBS with 30fps you should be good with any game.
(60 FPS and a decent Quality requires more than 5Mbit Upload and also more CPU Power)

After you did all the Basic Setup in OBS you can click "Start Streaming" Open the Dashboard on the left when youre logged in with your Twitch Account, and refresh the Dashboard Site when your Stream is Live. It does check the Stream Settings (Its a small quick Check only) but if you did everything right it should be green & excellent.

Generally you also need Updated Programs and also Drivers (Starting from Windows, OBS, Graphic Card and and ...)

Spoiler: 2.) Stream Key and Oauth Key

Mainly you only need your Stream Key (Turtorial : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yRVHSi3xyA )

You can find this in your Twitch Dashboard and then copy it to OBS so that you can stream to your twitch channel, it is your “front door Key”.

The other thing which requires a Key is your chat. This is an Oauth Key which allows you to connect your chat to IRC clients or other chat related things, also the Voobly Chatbridge in AOC to see the Twitch chat ingame.

You get it here :
http://www.twitchapps.com/tmi/

Once you refresh it, you have to replace it everywhere you used it

Spoiler: 3.) Scenes and Sources

For AOC you basically just need one scene: Monitor Capture.
It will capture anything in your monitor as you see it yourself, its the best and easiest way to get AOC on a stream since the game itself will just start after the lobby. Leaving a black screen wont be pretty way to watch a stream.

For other games you will need Game Capture (if you do not have an extra hardware capture card) and select the specific game (.Exe when its active) otherwise it starts flickering and black screening.

You might want to setup more than one scene in your OBS, possibly add one scene for being AFK with text or a picture for example.
When you think about this you should start using “Global Sources”
For example, you would like to have your Twitch chat shown on a stream so people can see the game full screen and the chat.

Once a Global Source is configured you can put this faster and more easily into multiple scenes. You could add it regulary multiple times without a Global Source but its easier to handle that way.
To arrange your scenes you just click preview stream, its NOT transmitting to the internet that way but it shows you live what will be shown, then you click “Edit Scene” and can customise the size and placement of things.

Important when you make the Sources, a Background / Fullscreen Source should be Placed in the Bottom, Smaller things you want to show in front of it have to be Up

Spoiler: 4.) Stream Appearance

Once you start streaming maybe you can think what can be improved but you wont become #1 Twitch Streamer in a couple days, STAHP dreaming. However a little effort could make you get more regular viewers and followers at the time you stream. A super easy thing to setup is an offline Image, it looks better than a pure black screen and can be done so quickly in the Twitch Settings. (The Tool Icon on the left)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnwLybK5tUs

here is the Turtorial, a picture how it will look after setting it up is here

Another thing you can setup really easy and quickly is to Introduce yourself a little bit, tell the viewers something you play, what kind of Setup you use and so on

Maybe add a picture, social media things or whatever. You find this on “Channel” when youre logged in. Be creative.

You can also add a webcam, slide shows of pictures and much more, like Overlays with a background, the Voobly Lobby in a nice looking frame, the Game Room in another and so on in the Stream to make the look quite decent and more entertaining.
(Pro Tip : Helene likes Catgifs but dont tell i said it)

Google delivers quite endless Options when you search for Wallpapers, remember Twitch doesnt like all kind of Wallpapers what you do or viewers would.

This Site actually has a pretty big amount Collected, free of course and in many different Resolutions.

http://7-themes.com/

Links and Customized Panels in Your Profile​

How to make Links easy click able is with "Markdown" an Overview what Twitch Supports http://help.twitch.tv/customer/portal/articles/839490-markdown-basics

A small Video Turtorial
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAF_VvTuc6k

You can also create your Panels, be creative with. Easy and free would be to use a Logo Creator like
http://flamingtext.com/ for example. On the Tools in the next Seciton mentioned "Teeboard" has also Options for it

This Picture shows an example how it could look, not as grey and boring anymore.

Spoiler: 5.)Tools Part I Streams and Twitch

Better Twitch TV​

I think as everyone else you start as a viewer of Twitch Channels.
The best Tool i know for watching is Better Twitch TV.

http://nightdev.com/betterttv/

It gives you several extra Options like a Dark Mode, Emotioncons per click, Chat Options and also Moderator Options (If you are one or for your own Channel)

Follower&Donation Alerts​

Pretty nice to have for streamers is Twitch Alerts. Its easy to get an Alert triggered, if someone follows your Channel, subscribed (later on maybe) or Donated if you did setup a Donation Button (It costs 1% of the Donations, the other Options are free) Press "Launch" Twitchalert on the Website and grant Acess to your Channel you will stream on.

http://www.twitchalerts.com/

Update from Twitchalerts V3.1 with new settings ! see the Introduction there
https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=117&v=bw8lGDHnR8o

You press Launch there and authorize it for your channel. Depending on what Alerts you will setup, it creates a Link which u need to put into an OBS Plugin.

Its called : CLR Browser Source Plugin

https://obsproject.com/forum/resources/clr-browser-source-plugin.22/

It creates a Bridge between OBS and a website Source, Twitch Alerts basically just sends a Trigger to a website and this Plugin will capture them. To make it working it also requires Microsoft Netframework 4.5.X and MS Visual C++
The required links are included in the one above.

Twitch Alerts gives you also statistics so you see how many Donations you got, how many people followed (Rushhours - what time was the best you streamed on)

You can Setup Custom Pictures appearing on these Alerts or even small MP3 Sound files whatever you like to have (3-15 seconds, should not be longer, big files wont work at all) I did get some of these
http://www.zedge.net/ringtones/0-5-1/
but if you have a collection of Phone Ringtones you will find even more there.

A quick Video Turtorial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7AgT-ul2Rg

Twitch Chat in OBS​

Twitch Chat. Here it starts getting a bit complicated, we have to split this section for users with 1 Monitor Setup or 2 Monitors.

I will start this section with a 2 - Monitor Setup. Easy and nice to have is when you can read your Chat on the second Monitor yourself. For that you use Better Twitch TV and Popout the Chat and Place it on your 2nd Monitor.

You can read it yourself there and also Window Capture it to put it visible on your Stream (Add as Global Source recommendend and than put in in your Scenes you want it to)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ji33OFrhQqk

Better Twitch TV also allow you to Chroma Key, like in the Turturial to make it more pretty.

How to Capture your Twitch Chat​

Now we come to the 1 Monitor Setup. (Which works for 2 Monitors ofc aswell)
The first solution to implement the Twitch Chat in OBS works, easy but didnt convince me - it didnt look to good to be honest.
I still want add it so everyone can choose. YATCP called.

https://obsproject.com/forum/resources/yatcp-yet-another-twitch-chat-plugin.37/

Just download it and put the Files into the Plugin Folder where you installed your OBS. (Watchout which Version you have, OBS has a Plugin Folder straight in it or also in 64Bit\Plugins - if u use the 64Bit Version!)
Once it is setup correctly, you Add a Global Source and it should show you “Add YATC”

You add it and enter your Twitchchannel Name in SMALL letters (important on all IRC based connections) and also your Oauth Key and you can customize it, add it on your scene and Done.

Night Dev OBS Chat (more beautiful)​

https://nightdev.com/obschat/

The download is a bit bigger for it and also kinda slow, it includes other updates which are required for it (I think Netframework was in there)
You Install the files via a .bat File (Instructions on the process)
You enter your Channel Name and do a little Setup what you want to have. In the end it will give you a link which will be captured by the earlier mentioned method with the CLR Browser Plugin.

(Add as Global Source and than add the Global Source in the Scenes you want.) Works pretty well, looks great.

Of course, you can combine these methods if you use 2 Monitors, the first example to see ur Chat without capturing it and the one of the other ways to get it into your stream.

Show the Song your Playing in OBS​

Music is nice to have, maybe you just put it in the breaks between the games or even all the time and your viewers like a song. Instead of saying what each song is you can show that of course. Now it depends where your music comes from.

To sample it with Winamp (I mention Winamp because another tool works with that “Scene Switcher, will be mentioned below)

https://obsproject.com/forum/threads/now-playing-music-for-spotify-itunes-winamp-on-stream.925/

Snip, you select your source: Winamp, spotify etc and it will create a txt File named Snip.txt in the Installation Folder.

In OBS you simply add Global Source “Text” and there Use Text from File and it will lead to your Snip.txt File. After that you can customise the: text, colours, size, scroll speed

A Quick Turtorial is here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1zZk4eYz3Y

Teeboard - Show your Current Song from Last.FM​

Another way to show the current song playing is Teeboard. It introduces itself as the Swiss Army Knife. For Current Song playing its related to Last.FM and Spotify only as far as i know.

https://obsproject.com/forum/resources/teeboard.45/

You need Adobe Air for it, the link can be found in the site there. There is also a Turtorial of how to use it and what it does. It gives you a dashboard where you can change your title, the game you are streaming. It also comes with a follower/subscriber/donation alert if you dont want to use twitchalerts. You can show a clock or a countdown with it in your stream, it helps to create nice looking panels to put them in your description, helps you with your past broadcasts and highlights and more stuff. You can also login with several accounts with it, to manage them on this tool.

An Overview with Pictures is here http://imgur.com/a/vLFUF

Action counters - APM (Actions per Minute)​

A nice looking tool i found is this one. http://www.desktopapm.com/
You can easily Window Capture it and put in into your Game Playing Scene. If you have other scenes, you keep that off there.
(For the Capture with 1 Monitor you need to Check "Autohotkey" in Tools Part 2 and add the Window Name to the script and run it.)

Twitch Channel Bots​

There are many different free Versions available. Nightbot, Moobot, UltimateBot ... i cant even count them.
They can do alot things, from Moderating your channel, getting Links and commands added, User Songrequests, Giveaways and and and. Its just some personal preference, if you want them and which one you like.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ix0EU7pbZJk Ill add a short guide for Moobot and Nightbot, if u need something else or special you can find many other Guides or Turtorials.

Spoiler: 6.)Tools Part II

Scene Switcher for OBS & AOC​

Another awesome tool is the Scene Switcher (AOC related only, as i know there are others, OBS comes with one i didnt try yet)

http://aoczone.net/viewtopic.php?f=102&t=74309

After you did put some different Scenes in your OBS besides the Monitor Capture for your game, you can choose which scene will be selected in OBS depending on the state.

You Play a game, it will have the Monitor Capture plus maybe song playing in a scene shown.

Your in a Lobby and wait for a Game, it shows the Window Capured Lobby, the chat and the Song Playing. The Advantage of this, you set it up and dont have to care about anymore or you never forget to change the scene - and your viewers will not watch the lobby while your playing already. Sweet thx for that Serbia BugA_the_Great

You can also use an OBS Tool called Simple Scene Switcher. The New OBS Version got a Scene Switcher included which can be configured in the Settings. ( A Scene for the Lobby, A Scene for the Game and so on)

https://obsproject.com/forum/threads/simple-scene-switcher.12616/

Virtual Keyboards​

Really sweet and i have seen it in Action and viewers seem to like it alot are Virtual Keyboards

Important Note: To make an Input going through and make it able to be captured you might have to set the programs you are using “Run as administrator”
(Voobly, AOC [AgeofEmpiresII\ age2_x1\age2_x1.exe] and the Keyboard you will use too.

Believe me, they also gave me a couple of headaches already during the process learning stuff and trying to get them to work.
The Problem is with 1 Monitor, you can capture them but they go static and dont show the Inputs anymore.

Lets start with some free versions and 2 Monitor Setups.

EZ Key​

http://twofx.github.io/EZKey/

EZ Key, its free small can be customized and does what it is meant to do. Window Capture from your second Monitor, ready in 2 Minutes.

Nohboard​

Same goes for Nohboard. small easy quick, works.

https://obsproject.com/forum/resources/nohboard.44/

Hot Virtual Keyboard​

Much better looking, working with any setup (1 or 2 Monitors) and even more customizable is the Hot Virtual Keyboard.

http://hot-virtual-keyboard.com/

The really only disadvantage on this, its not free ;-( Cant help it guys, but if you are more than 1 Person ordering it, it will get cheaper. 10 or more copies are already 50% off. It works perfectly and future Updates are cost free too. The Main difference is that this one wont get static when you overlap it or make it fully transparent. (To get it Captured you need to select on Theme “Native Windows Style first”) A 30 Day Trial is free available.

Autohotkey for 1 Monitor Setups needed​

Back to the Nohboard and EZKey Keyboard. We got a solution to make it possible even if you use one Monitor.
There for you will need Autohotkey (AHK)

http://www.autohotkey.com/

You can download it there, install it. Than you go to your Desktop or in the Windows Explorer, pick a Folder and rightclick “New”. Select Autohotkey Script.

Delete any Text in there and copy& paste these lines :

SetTimer, constantActivation, 10
return

constantActivation:
WinWaitNotActive, nohboard v0.17b
WinActivate, nohboard v0.17b
WinWaitNotActive, EZKey Keyboard Visualisation
WinActivate, EZKey Keyboard Visualisation
return


Save it and exit, rightclick the File Again (maybe rename it like u want it to be called)
You need to allow the inputs going through means these programs has to run in Admin mode.

Autohotkey :

Nohboard :

and after these Steps you rightclick your Script File and run it

The most tricky Part comes along now, by different Windows Versions.

Windows 8 - usually works easy in the Test people helped me trying it. Since it handles a Window differently from Windows 7.

Windows 7. I changed to Window Capture for the AOC Game (old Way i used there was simple Monitor Capture) To have it Working i had to uncheck "Disable Aero" in OBS >Video Settings, and i also did Capture Layered Windows in the Sources im Capturing the game.
I couldnt Test Windows XP yet, but overall i suggest you try these mentioned Things first and see if it works.

Now you should be able to have it Window Captured in OBS and it will still be visible in your stream when its in the background behind other Windows.

Dont minimize the Keyboard, otherwise the script wont do its work.

The Script allows you to use either Nohboard or EZKey Keyboard. Like you want, to add future programms in this, you need to add the EXACT Name of the Window in the Top to be added. Im Supernoob in this, but there are forums with experts around or you got the clue already when you check what is done in the Keyboard script.

Reminder: After Each Reboot of your Computer, you have to restart the script again or you just put it into your Autostart https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSLCC156BLQ



MAYBE
Another Solution could be this one, a Java based Scripted Keyboard where the Inputs get Captured straight Into OBS.
Mr Genette will take a look as soon as he got time for. (Your great in Java and this stuff ? Feel free to make a solution for it !)

http://dmauro.github.io/Keypress/

Link your Hotkey Setup​

Before you get asked fifty times in a stream, what is Key “F,D,W” you press so many times, you can link your Hotkeys when you use this Site.

http://aokhotkeys.appspot.com/editor

The Example here shows the Hotkeys of the Top Player TyRant_Riut.

Spoiler: 7.) Alternative Guides

Auto scene changer tool (age2stream) http://aoczone.net/viewtopic.php?f=499&t=75388
How to Stream AoC -- UPDATED 2/15/2012 http://aoczone.net/viewtopic.php?f=499&t=68818
How to: Streaming AoC with FFSplit http://aoczone.net/viewtopic.php?f=499&t=82287
Twitch Chat ingame http://aoczone.net/viewtopic.php?f=499&t=83128
Stream Quality Guide http://www.aoczone.net/viewtopic.php?f=499&t=68813

Thanks to all who helped me here, TehHunter, Rgeadn, SaladEsc and Genette and Taff
Greetings hope you enjoy Stiff

 

[pumukel]

Re: OBS, Streaming, Twitch Version II

Looks very useful. I moved it to the Streaming Forum.

 

[SaladEsc]

Re: OBS, Streaming, Twitch Version II

 

[Gentle]

Re: OBS, Streaming, Twitch Version II

Good job!

 

[coLtApxthy]

Re: OBS, Streaming, Twitch Version II

oh a german . wörk wörk wörk 11 jk

very good job.

 

[Stifflersmumx]

Updated Twitch Alerts V3.1 Video. Make sure you select this one (also make the right or new link in your CLR Browser than) and not the basic :-) njoy